The Thing Between Us
by faintsoul
Summary: AU. 'Humans just see us as a mere tool, not a living thing. That is us, Humanoid.' She is a killing machine. When her master gives her a task or two, she must complete it perfectly. After a long shutdown mode, she woke up in another era but with the same system. She is given another task with the hardest decision. Will she be able to complete it or will she fail?
1. Chapter 1

**I**

Lucy

...

It's been a really long time. Perhaps it has been over a century since her last time in _standby_ mode. No wonder her body felt so stiff. Or was it because she was awakened in a capsule with cables on her back? Was she wearing nothing? No, there was a pale blue-colored cloth around her body. She stared at the outside of her capsule. There were many capsules filled with humanoid with cables attached on their back. Her capsule opened and a woman with long brown hair approached her. She wore a long white coat and brought a stack of papers. Her lips created a thin straight line while her sharp eyes stared at her through her glasses. "Follow me, number 2." was all she said then turned around to walk into a door. The cables on her back was off and she could move better. As she stood in front of her capsule, the capsule closed and she could see her reflection there. Gosh, she was awful! Her long straight hair was now like a bird nest, so messy and tangled everywhere and the cloth was thin enough to make her shiver a bit.

She huffed then changed her appearance. A vertically red striped shirt and black short jeans with brown leather belt covered with a long white cloak. The cloak was zippered from her stomach area to her neck and had two bells attached on the left and right edge of the cloak. Her golden hair—that reached her knees—was tied with black ribbons into two high ponytails with messy accent.

A fake cough could be heard from the edge of the white room. The woman was waiting for her with eyes that was glaring at her. Her free hand fixed her glasses, then the door automatically opened, leading to a big corridor. The woman's high heels clicked every time she walks. The humanoid, though she prefers to be called as a cyborg, has just remembered about her footwear. A pair of black combat boots appeared and she quickly followed the woman. Without saying anything, the woman instructed her to enter a larger room with door. The door, once again, opened automatically and showed her a big hall filled with humans wearing the same white cloak as the woman. Now she became confused, an old man with spiky red hair was talking to a man beside him. She knows what was the meaning of this; she was going to be sold, again. _I wonder what kind of man is he._

"Ah, number 2, come here," the man said. "This gentleman is now your master got it?" She bowed deeply, earning a small laugh from her master. "Sir, I thank you, I promise I won't let you down. She's our best, she won't fail you." The man continued.

"I hope so," the red haired man glanced at her. "We will talk about this later, please follow me." They walked out of the room, with her following him a few steps behind, in an underground parking lot. A black limo could be seen and a butler stood there. She hoped she was wrong but no. The butler's head was the goat head. She was shocked but no expression could be seen. "This is Capricorn, our butler, I'll explain it at the mansion. Now please go inside the car."

They entered the car while the person named Capricorn was the driver. As the car drove, the man introducing himself. "My name is Igneel, Igneel Dragneel." He said.

"Igneel Dragneel, the most famous nobleman in Fiore. In a good relationship with Fullbuster, Fernandez, and Strauss noble family. In a bad relationship with Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney as well as Weisslogia and Skiadrum. Has a son and a daughter named Natsu Dragneel and Wendy Marvell Dragnel and a wife named Grandeneey Dragneel." She cut him as if bored with his way too formal introduction.

"I'm not expecting less from you, number 2. How about introducing yourself?" he smiled despite her rude attitude towards him. Well he didn't include it as rude attitude, to be honest. He himself, was actually an easy going person so he paid no attention.

"I'm a cyborg, or you may say it, a humanoid. My name is number 2 but my old name was number 3981. I'm an old humanoid, only being repaired." She explained.

Igneel frowned. "Number 2 is a bad name, shall we get you a new name? How about . . . . Lucky? No, Lucy will do. Your name is now Lucy, got it?" he grinned.

She stared at him wide eye then bowed her head. "Thank you so much, master. Thank you."

"No, it's not a big deal, oh we've arrived. Well, Lucy, welcome to your new house!" he said as a big mansion with wide garden and tall wall surrounding it could be seen. A young woman with pink short hair wearing maid dress opened the gate then closed it when the car has passed. "That was Virgo, our maid. Now, let's meet my wife and my children."

As they stepped out of the car, the big double door opened, revealing a woman with deep blue hair that tied into a bun and a girl with blue hair tied into two high ponytails running at them. "Welcome back, Papa!" The little girl, which Lucy guessed as Wendy, hugged her father.

The woman, Grandeneey, approached the three and glanced at Lucy. "Who might you be, dear? A friend of Igneel? You look so young, almost the same age as Natsu." She said.

"My deepest apologizes, mistress, my name is Lucy. I'm a humanoid." She said while bowing. A gasp could be heard from both Wendy and Grandeneey.

"Nee-chan! You're so cool! You look like a normal person!" Wendy bounced on the spot and threw herself to Lucy, which she catch easily. "We have similarity! Your hair tied into two ponytails just like mine! Hehehe!" she gave Lucy a wide grin.

"Now now, Wendy, dear, Lucy-nee-chan must be tired. Let's go inside, shall we?" Grandeneey smiled sweetly then walked inside with Igneel. Wendy got off of her and held her hand. "Let's go, nee-chan! I'm sure onii-chan and Happy and Carla will like you!"

Lucy nodded and they entered the mansion. It was filled with expensive stuff from all over the place in Earthland. Vases, carpets, curtains, crystal chandelier, and many more. Wendy went to call his big brother while Lucy follows Igneel and Grandeneey to the study room. Her system was recording the ways around the mansion, as if a map of the mansion appeared inside her head and she could read it anytime and anywhere. Grandeneey and Igneel stopped in front of a door which was a door to the study room. The two and Lucy entered the wide room and filled with a bookshelf that also full of books. Igneel sat behind a wooden table while Grandeneey standing beside him. Lucy walked and when she thought the distance was enough, she bowed deeply to them. "Do you know what task we will give to you, Lucy?" asked Igneel in a serious tone.

"I'm afraid I don't know the task, master." Lucy replied after shaking her head. "But I do know the purpose of the task." She continued before Igneel could say anything.

Igneel and Grandeneey changed looks before explained, "You do know about our family relationship with Eucliffe and Cheney family, correct? I want you to dig some information about their intention for proposing a cooperation to us. I know they are hiding something." He explained briefly.

"But don't push yourself, deary. We don't want you to be involved with other problems." Grandeneey said with a soft voice. "And your mission will be started in five days. A big party will be held at Fullbuster's and we sure that Eucliffe and Cheney will attend it."

"I understand, master, mistress. I will do my best." Lucy said. In her head, a strategy started to take a shape. "I also won't let your children know this mission. It will be bad for them, too."

Igneel and Grandeneey smiled. "Lastly, please just call me Igneel and Grandeneey and because Wendy is already know that you're a humanoid, we won't hide the fact that you're humanoid but we will explain to Wendy and Natsu that you are Wendy's tutor, okay?" Grandeneey's smile never faded.

"I will. Thank you, Igneel-san, Grandeneey-san." Lucy stood as the door burst open. A blue cat with wings crashed into her, making the two fell to the ground.

"Happy! Are you okay?!" A high-pitched scream could be heard from the door. Wendy appeared with another cat with white fur in her arms.

"I'm fine, Wendy, I just need some fishes... Grilled fish..." He muttered. "Lucy, right? I'm Happy! Natsu's exceed!" Exceed? The same as Samuel in that laboratory? That exceed was so smug just by looking at his face. Well, she just saw him when she walked to meet Igneel, Samuel was looking at her with a grumpy face.

"Happy! You stole my fish for my lunch didn't you?!" A boy with pink-salmon hair appeared behind Wendy. The exceed on Lucy's head screamed and tried to fly but his tail was grabbed by Natsu and in the end, both Natsu and Happy fell on top of Lucy.

"Kyaaaa!" Wendy screamed another high-pitched scream as Carla closed Wendy's eyes. Igneel sweat dropped and Grandeneey just giggled. "Lucy-nee-chan! Are you alright?" Still closed her eyes, she tried to approach them but tripped her dress and also fell on top of Natsu.

"Wendy, Happy, Natsu! Get off of her!" Grandeneey shouted, looking at Lucy with concerned eyes. "NOW!" She roared, making her children standing with Natsu's face pale. Lucy dusted off the dust and attacked by Wendy once again.

"Nee-chan! How long will you stay here? A month? Oh I hope you can stay longer!" Wendy cried. Carla and Happy now flying over her head while Natsu scratched his neck.

"Guess what, Wendy? I will be your tutor! So I will be staying here for a long time!" She smiled, making Igneel and Grandine surprised. Where did the emotionless Lucy go?

"Yay! Let's start tomorrow okay? How about in the library? You like book don't you, nee-chan?" Wendy's eyes filled with stars, as if she was so bored with her usual life.

"Okay, I'll be waiting at 9 o'clock. Now, why don't you go to the dining room? The dinner must be ready for now." Lucy said, noticing it was already at 6 past half p.m.

"Natsu, Wendy, let's go! I'm sure the fishes are grilled tonight!" Happy said and flew away, Igneel, Grandeneey, and Wendy also walked out of the study room. Now it was only Lucy and Natsu. Lucy walked into a nearby bookshelf while Natsu just stands there, confused about how to introduce him._ Formally? Nah, that won't do. Calm down, just need to greet her like I usually do._ Just as he snapped out of his mind, she was already walking to the door.

"H-Hey! Luce! Wait!" He called her and grabbed her wrist. Lucy glanced at him with a little surprised expression. "U-Uh.. Well, I'm sorry." He said.

"Sorry for what?" She asked, tilting her head a little.

"Well, I fell on top of you right? And Happy and Wendy, too. And about that ki—" "That's only an accident, don't worry. Natsu Dragneel, right? Well, pleased to meet you, I'm Lucy." She cut him then smiled. "Why don't you go to the dining room? That blue exceed will eat your fish again I'm sure."

"Gaah! You're right! Well, gotta go! See ya later, Luce!" He dashed into the dining room and Lucy sighed. Capricorn approached her then he lead the way to her room. A few turns to the left and then passing the library, four rooms after the library was her room. She thanked Capricorn then entered the room. The room was big enough for one person. A queen sized bed, big cupboard filled with clothes (or dresses since it was her room), a bathroom with large bathtub, a table and a chair. It wasn't like she didn't like it. It's just so strange. Her masters in the past wouldn't give her even a room to sleep, hell she will be called as number 3981 and they would treat her as a tool. She didn't object to it because they were all correct, she wasn't a human nor a living thing. She was a robot, a cyborg, a humanoid, or maybe in the future, they would call her race as _machina_.

She remembered Igneel's word. _Well, Lucy, welcome to your new house! **Your**_ new house. That was weird because never in her past life a human would treat her like a normal human. And then, Wendy. Children of her age would be scared of her, seeing her as a threat to them and make a story such as she would eat them if they stared at her eyes. Well, what she could do?

".. Weird humans." She muttered and lying on the bed. As she wanted to change her system to her _sleep_ mode, her room's door was knocked. She opened it and saw Virgo. Judging by her looks, she was also a humanoid, the same expressionless but then she could hear her heart beat. So she is a human?

"Miss Lucy, do you want to eat your dinner? I'll bring it here if you want." She asked. Yeah, her tone was monotone.

"No, thank you, Virgo. I just need some rest tonight." She replied, wearing a tired face.

"Very well, if you need anything just call me. Good night, Miss Lucy." Virgo closed the door. Lucy walked back to the bed and lying there. She wondered if her expression was good enough so she could disguise herself as human. Not to the Dragneel family, but for her first mission. Well, could disguise herself as one of the guests and use that chance to approach her targets. Maybe.

...

**Note :**

**Hello, faintsoul here! This is my first fanfiction about nalu! I'm sorry for the misspelling and grammar. Please go easy for me! Lastly, do you want me to continue this one? Oh and give me some review about this, constructing review will help me. And I don't know if there's any story like this but I'm not plagiarized it, promise! Well, see you next time!**

**faintsoul signing out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

Does the dragon exist?

...

As she woke up, she saw a dark space with many windows full of characters she doesn't recognize. The windows were floating everywhere and the characters kept moving in the window and scrolling down by itself. It was a language she didn't recognize but she doesn't care much. Pushing the windows aside, she walked through the dark space and arrived in a brighter space or you could call it as a room. The room was brighter because of the floating thing with a green light in the middle. Then it came to her head. _So I'm inside myself again._ She was diving through her system sometimes when she was in _sleep _mode. It seems her system has some bug or virus so she could do this kind of thing.

The floating thing with green light was her brain and she learned she couldn't touch it, otherwise she would wake up in a bad state and maybe Igneel would turn her back to the lab for a _little_ maintenance. Usually she would kill the time by making some strategy for her upcoming mission but for now she just didn't feel like it. She was thinking about the Dragneel family instead. As she thought that, another ray with white color appeared near her. Well, she gotta wake up then.

...

Lucy, a humanoid that was known as number 2 and number 3981, opened her eyes and stretched. She never do stretching before because her system didn't have a program to do that so it feels so new yet so natural. _A little change wouldn't hurt, right?_ She walked to the bathroom and command her system to put away the clothes, she needs to take a bath just like a normal human would do. Why? Because she was living with a(n) (ab)normal human and Grandine wouldn't like it if she teaches Wendy without taking at least a quick shower. She got a little nervous about taking a bath then she came up with an idea. Instead turning the shower knob, she grabbed a towel and soaked it with water and washed herself with it. Then she applied the soap to the sponge and wash it with the same wet towel. She dried herself with another towel and command her system to put back her clothes. Now she was ready, except for one thing. Her hair was too long so she command her system again to make it shorter but failed. She remembered, her hair was the part of her human body so she has to use scissors to make it shorter. Wait, she didn't know how to cut someone's hair let alone her hair. _It seems I'm gonna need Wendy or Grandine to cut it down, only if the two didn't mind._ Lucy walked out of the bathroom and saw Natsu and Wendy in her room. Wendy's face was red. Why?

"Natsu-nii! Give me back my book!" she cried so loud it echoing the whole mansion.

Natsu shook his head from side to side, "Nuh uh Lil' sis, you gonna have to ask Happy for the book. I don't understand, why do you like the story that much? It's so booooring, why does the knight always have to kill the dragon? Why don't you change it so the dragon can be friend with the girl?" he leaned into Lucy's bed with a bored expression.

Wendy turned to Lucy with teary eyes and bit her lower lip before whining. _So that explains her red face..._ "Nee-saaaaaaaaan! Natsu-nii is soooo meeeeaaaaaan! Punish him! Punish him!" Another loud cry that could make the glass break echoed the whole mansion again. Wendy gave her best puppy eyes to Lucy. Lucy sighs inwardly then Wendy added, "I was going to lend it to you when Natsu-nii took it away and give it to Happy!"

A vein popped and Lucy coughed then stared at Natsu meanly. "Natsu, would you _please_ give her book back?" she smiled (in a sinister way). Natsu could feel the cold aura around Lucy then he sat straight then answered her with loud yet stuttering 'aye' then dashed out of her room, looking for Happy all over the place then walked back to her room with heavy pant. He holds out the wanted book then Wendy takes it.

"Thanks Natsu-nii! Nee-san, let's go to the library! I want you to read this for me and Carla! Carla has been already there so we can't make her waiting any second more!" Wendy grabbed Lucy's wrist then they (or only Wendy) skipped all the way to the library, which was only several rooms before Lucy's. The library door opened with a creak. The said room was wide, wider than the study room. The bookshelves were so much larger than the one in the study room. Several sofas and tables could be seen in the middle of the room. Wendy leads Lucy to the sofa and they sat there. "Please wait a moment, nee-san, I want to see if Carla still here." Then Wendy looked for Carla but the female exceed was nowhere to be found. "Oh well," said Wendy, exhausted, "maybe Carla went to my room because she was waiting too long for us. Oh oh, can you read this book for me?"

Lucy smiled at the energetic girl, "I thought we are gonna study, not reading Wendy-chan." Lucy reminds her student.

"Aaaww and here I thought you'd like this story.." Wendy pouted then walked to the nearby bookshelf and took a book, a really thick and heavy book. She put it on the table and the book landed with a loud _boom_ sound. "I want to know about a dragon! Do you think they exist in this world, nee-san?" she asked curiously.

Lucy thought for a moment. She didn't know if the dragon race ever lives in Earthland or not. She didn't want to lie to the young lady in front of her but her student won't satisfied with an 'I don't know' answer. A flash of light appeared in her head, an idea came up as she remembered something about the dragon. "Well, they have existed here in Earthland."

Wendy's expression went brighter, her mouth forming a perfect o before bombarding Lucy with questions and squeal. "Can we meet them? Can we? Can we? Oh nee-san please I want to meet one of them! The one with beauty blue scaly and she can fly!" She bounced in her seat, making Lucy giggle.

"I said they _have existed_ so they only exist in the past, Wendy." Lucy explained then Wendy went sulking. "Don't worry, I'm sure you will meet one of them later."

"When is it?" Wendy asked with hope filling her eyes.

"I don't know the exact time because dragon are-" Missing? Gone? Extinct? "-because dragon went back to their habitat." She said, using word habitat instead of world because Wendy surely will ask her about where is their world and such.

"Why?" Wendy asked again. Lucy smiled then answered, "Because, my student, they can't live in Earthland anymore. Human race and Dragon race never got along well, they always have fights about the authority and that lead to a bigger fight and declares a war, human race always wins, though." Lucy explained. She peeked at the girl that stared at her with full interest then she continued. "Human creates machine to kill the dragon to take over the Earthland. The technology wasn't as good as nowadays, but they managed to make a powerful machine to kill most of the dragon."

"Question, Lucy-sensei!" Wendy's right arm raised high. "What do you mean by 'a powerful machine'? Does that mean the human race only made one machine to use against the dragon?"

"Probably, but I guess that was impossible since a dragon is a mythical creature that has a size of this mansion." Lucy explained.

"Sensei, you're so suspicious." Wendy said, making Lucy confused. "Why?" Lucy asked.

"Becaaaause you know that much about dragon!" she pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Lucy just shook her head then said, "It's all explained in this book, Wendy. I just read it for you because I know you're too lazy to read it."

Wendy is looking at Lucy now. She saw the book on Lucy's lap with a page describing about the dragon opened. "And if I ever meet them, maybe I won't be eaten because they would eat me alive." Lucy joked and make the two giggled.

"Ne, ne, can you describe a dragon? I'm not sure if the dragon drawn here," Wendy flipped the page where the thick book showed a picture of a dragon. "are true and do you think the writer have met or see one of them?"

Lucy examined the page then said, "Well, I think the dragon has a really big size with various colors. The color showed their ability so if a dragon has a blue color, that mean it has the power of water or maybe the power of the air and many others. The dragon always lives in a group to protect the babies and the female dragon, but some of them prefer living alone with her babies. They are either carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore but the carnivore one was dominating so when they were out of prey, the became cannibals or they could go to the human's village and ate their livestock. Each species of dragon weren't the same but they always have wings to fly. The smallest dragon has the same size as triple human's high. The larger was as big as this mansion, the longest one was as long as two trains." Lucy explained.

"Woaaaaaaah..." was all Wendy could say. "Wait, you said you haven't met them but why do you know this much about them?" she asked as she came back from imagination about her riding a flying blue dragon.

"It's all written here," Lucy pointed a page about the description about dragon in the book."but I changed the word so you can understand it easily. Sorry, Wendy, even if I'm your tutor, that doesn't mean I know everything." She smiled at the awe-ing girl.

"Question! Can you eat a dragon?"

Okay, that one surely wasn't Wendy's because she has lost in her imagination again.

Lucy puts the book back to the table. "Well, of course you can if you want to be poisoned and die. Natsu, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked. She spun her head from Wendy to Natsu that was sitting on another sofa a little far from them.

"I'm bored. Happy is sleeping and I'm hungry." He replied and scratching his head.

"Then go eat something, baka-nii! Don't bother us now! We're studying!" Wendy said and pushed her brother out of the library. "Let's continue, Lucy-sensei! I think I have tons of question to be answered!" She said then flipped to another page.

Lucy leaned closer to the book. The book was old and the papers were all wrinkly and yellow. The writing was all handwriting, even the drawing was hand-made. It looks like a research book written by someone. But what is it doing here?

"Sensei!" Wendy said. "Where is the remaining of the dragon now?"

If Lucy was drinking something, she would choke. Wendy caught her off guard. Lucy thought Wendy would never ask her _this_ and _this_ is the question she afraid of. "I don't know, Wendy, and I don't think if the remaining are still alive." She answered honestly.

"But you said I'm going to meet one of them." Wendy's shoulder slumped.

"Well yes I said that, but for you, I think you have a big chance to meet the blue one someday." She stroked Wendy's hair.

...

After the session over, Wendy went to eat her late breakfast. Lucy was still in the library, flipping through the book again, read it over and over. The book didn't have the author name or anything related to the author. Only an old picture of a baby in the cradle on the last page of the book that may be related to the author. The picture was torn at its edges. It was a black-and-white photo. On the back side of the photo, there was a hand written but it couldn't be read. The ink was too soft but a character or two could be read. _L and J, what the meaning of this..._ Lucy put the photo back to the last page then put the book back to the bookshelf. It's not like she cares about it. . . Isn't she?

...

**Note :**

**Hiya all! Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy reading this chapter! faintsoul want to say Happy New Year! Welcome 2014! Oops, I forgot the desclaimer! faintsoul don't own Fairy Tail and the character! I'm very sorry for the mistake, I'm still a newbie. Please review 'kay? Sou will love you so much!**

**faintsoul signing out! See ya next chapter!**


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